‘Patience?’ Rob asked. ‘I have never known Caelan to be a patient one. Even as a child, he wanted what he wanted at the moment he wanted it. Not later, certainly.’ Rob had actually grown up as Caelan’s friend until the three had trained as warriors and fought in their first battles, skirmishes truly, against the Camerons. Something Rob saw had made him turn away from Caelan and never be his friend again.
‘Oh, he can be when it works in his interest. But now, the delays I caused by bringing the lass—the lady—here have worn it thin. This—’ he waved his hand at the ongoing activities around them ‘—this is a sign of his desperation.’
‘What will he do next, Brodie? Do you think he will come here?’
‘I think the Camerons might be asked to leave so he can focus his attention on wiping us out.’
‘But what about Lady Arabella? Her father would not simply leave without her, would he?’
Brodie considered the question. Caelan was playing both of his enemies against each other in this—blaming Brodie for Malcolm’s death and Arabella’s kidnapping while using the troubles with Brodie to manipulate Euan Cameron. Knowing his cousin, Caelan had most likely promised to accept another Cameron lass if Arabella was not returned alive and...marriageable.
And if, as he suspected, Euan did want a lasting peace between their clans, he would agree. If Lachlan and Caelan had increased the concessions after Malcolm’s death, it would be done again, until the bargain could not be refused. But then Caelan knew the eventual outcome—it would all be his—when Euan did not.
‘Would he, Brodie? Would my father abandon me here?’
He turned to discover Arabella standing outside the tent, staring at him. Her face had lost all its colour, whether due to what she’d heard or what she’d seen this day, he knew not. She stepped closer and he read the exhaustion on her features. And the blood splashed on the gown she wore and along the edge of her jaw where she must have missed wiping it.
‘Arabella...’ he began. He glanced at Rob, who deserted him and walked into his sister’s tent. ‘Not here. Not now. I need to check on Magnus first.’
‘He lives,’ she said. ‘Thanks to Margaret’s skills and the man’s determination not to die.’
He nodded and went inside as Margaret left to go out. Magnus’s battered and bruised face and body had been patched up with stitches and bandages, but he was alert and ready to talk. They questioned him quickly, getting the most important details from him before allowing him to rest. Before leaving, he gave Rob new orders to protect the man.
Stepping outside, he found the area empty. Margaret and Arabella were gone. Trotting towards the cave, he found Margaret returning alone.
‘Margaret?’ he said, stopping in front of her. ‘The lady?’
‘Waiting for you, Brodie,’ she said. She laughed softly and shook her head. ‘And she has many questions for you.’
‘Margaret, I told you...’
‘Oh, aye, you told me this and that, but the lady deserves the truth now, Brodie. She did well today. Her stitches saved Magnus from bleeding to death. And she never shied away from doing anything I asked of her. She’s a right one, she is, and not the woman most think her to be.’
‘Is that right?’ He already knew there was a depth to Arabella that she did not let many see. But at this moment, he did not want to be reminded that he, like the others, had underestimated her.
‘Ask her to see to your wounds.’ She pointed to his shirt which showed signs of fresh bleeding. ‘I will send some ointment to you.’
‘What did you tell her, Margaret?’
‘I did not share your secrets, Brodie. I but told my tale, for it was mine to tell.’
He exhaled loudly and wanted to pick up their custom of cursing under his breath just then. ‘I asked you not to.’
‘She wasna ready before, but she is now. Arabella Cameron would be a good ally when the time comes.’ She began to walk away but faced him once more. ‘And it is coming, is it not? Everyone will have to choose their side. Give her reasons to choose yours.’
Having made her point, she walked away then. Margaret had suffered the most grievous loss because of her brother’s friendship and backing and so he took her counsel seriously. With her skills as a healer, she had saved dozens of lives many times over. And her abilities to organise and oversee supplies and souls made her as indispensable as any or all of his warriors.
Most times in the past, she’d left the leading to him, but clearly she had wanted her say on the matter of Lady Arabella Cameron.
The only problem, the insurmountable one, was that the lady would never marry the man who had killed her brother. She had agreed to marry into the clan responsible for it, but would never allow herself to be joined in marriage to him. And he knew how strong her resistance could be.
A spine of steel.
Those words again! He rubbed the back of his hand across his brow, pressing against the pain that throbbed there now. Would he ever remember? Why could he not remember, for other memories of that night trickled in through dreams or random thoughts? Yet when he tried to make them come, they fled.
Like the nameBella. It poured forth from him and he knew her brother had used it in his company. But her reaction told him it was something dear to her, something only shared by brother and sister who’d been born from the same womb. And in spite of their father’s forbidding it.
The weight of these past days, with hours on horseback, a battle and a harrowing escape, suddenly crashed down on him. Exhaustion stole his resolve and his ability to focus his thoughts. Even though he knew he must be on his guard with her. She was in danger and was a danger to him. Every time he saw her, the wanting within his body and soul grew stronger.
